When I was in my 30’s I dated a woman who taught yoga and for two years I practiced it religiously with her. After we split up I continued my daily yoga for a long time. Somehow, in the midst of the trials and tribulations of my life, I scaled back on it and stopped practicing regularly. Nonetheless I continued to benefit from things I had learned from it, like diaphragmatic breathing. This wonderful tool has helped me to deal with stress all my life. Even now in retirement, I still use it although I feel far less stress than I did when I was a worker bee.

When I first started doing yoga, I was still a runner and one immediate benefit was that I didn’t turn my ankles as often, or at all. I don’t know if assuming the poses strengthened my ankles and legs or I simply achieved a better sense of balance, but I went from turning my ankles about once a week, to maybe twice a year. Also, in the years I did yoga, I had a really heightened awareness of my body that was very gratifying, hard to explain, but gratifying.

I find that now as a senior citizen, there are good reasons for me to resume my yoga practice. First, while I ride a bike daily and enjoy superb cardiovascular health, I don’t enjoy doing weight-bearing exercise very much. And, everyone needs to do that, too. It turns out yoga is weight-bearing exercise, but much more enjoyable (to me) than pumping iron. Second, I recently heard a talk on seniors falling which I wrote up here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, said, “Among older adults (those 65 or older), falls are the leading cause of injury death. They are also the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma.”

Frankly, that scared me. People die in hospitals. I want to steer clear of them. So, increasing my strength and balance through yoga has become very much more appealing.

I also remember that wonderful feeling of exhilaration doing yoga. The release of each posture always made those particular muscles feel alive with energy. The controlled relaxation at the end of every session never failed to boost my spirits. I would like to return to those sensations. So, I have started doing yoga again.

But, what about you? Maybe you aren’t an old man who doesn’t want to fall and go to the hospital. Why should you do yoga?

Here is what the yogasite says about why you should do yoga.
“The short answer is that yoga makes you feel better. Practicing the postures, breathing exercises and meditation makes you healthier in body, mind and spirit. Yoga lets you tune in, chill out, shape up — all at the same time.

“For many people, that’s enough of an answer. But there’s more if you’re interested.

Sadie Nardini wrote a fun piece in the Huffpost on the Top 10 Reasons Not To Do Yoga.

Here are a couple: You enjoy looking 9 years older than you are. After all, Joan Crawford is super hot–so bring on the crow’s feet!; You embrace those heavy metal toxins building up in your body as a bad-ass homage to your Kiss concert days. Rock on!; You firmly believe that the junk in your trunk needs more company.

Ah, I love that Sadie Nardini piece!
I do yoga because it makes me feel better – more limber (no back pain as long as I’m keeping up a reasonably regular practice), more relaxed, more happy, more able to cope with any of the current difficult stuff in my life, whether trivial or serious. Though I have to say it’s (for me) definitely easier to keep doing yoga when it’s only trivial stuff (like living with teenagers!) bugging me…in the past I’ve definitely had a tendency to give up yoga when I needed it most. I’m trying these days to make a little bit of daily yoga as necessary and natural as brushing my teeth. Good luck with yours!

You’re welcome!
I can’t do too much first thing, I feel so stiff. Usually take the dog out for her walk first then I’m good to go. I agree it definitely sets the day up well to do some stretching before breakfast!

lol We have similar schedules. I try to do some sun salutations first thing because I also wake up stiff. The early yoga can be a big help in that regard. You are taking back control of your body. Anyway, I breakfast and then take poochie out for her walk.

Thanks for the kind thoughts and good luck with your practice of yoga, too.

Back when I did it daily, I used to do it first thing upon rising.That way my body was awake and going by the time I had breakfast. These days I am just doing a sun salutation in the morning and the full session in the afternoon.